Kevin Knox Drops 12 as Knicks Beat Anthony Davis, Pelicans in Preseason
The New York Knicks downed the New Orleans Pelicans 106-100 in preseason action at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
Rookie Kevin Knox was up-and-down to the tune of 12 points (6-of-19 shooting) and 10 rebounds, while center Enes Kanter anchored New York's frontcourt with 20 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes.
Anthony Davis did the heavy lifting among New Orleans' starters and racked up 15 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and three blocks through three quarters.
Knox Flashes High Ceiling Despite Inconsistent Offensive Game
Through 24 minutes of Friday night's preseason tilt, Knox appeared headed for a woeful outing. The rookie missed his first four shots outside of the paint, and he was operating without a rhythm as a spot-up and pull-up jump-shooter.
Knox stayed the course, though, and shook off a few of those woes in the second half as he buried his first three jumpers in the third quarter.
More than anything, that dichotomy was likely a preview of how the early stages of Knox's inaugural NBA campaign are likely to go.
While it's clear he has the skills necessary to take games over for short spurts, there are going to be some serious growing pains as he adjusts to life as the focal point of New York's offense with Kristaps Porzingis still recovering from a torn ACL.
Of course, that's nothing out of the ordinary. All rookies need time to get acclimated, and sloppiness is going to permeate their games to varying degrees. (That much was on display Friday when Knox committed a team-high five turnovers.)
Still, Knox proved throughout his lone season at Kentucky that he has the requisite skills necessary to develop into a modern hybrid forward who can score inside and out. And considering he's on a rebuilding team that doesn't have postseason aspirations, he will enjoy the luxury of getting to play through mistakes as he refines his game.
"If you can shoot the ball you can have a job in the NBA for a long time. But he can do much more than that," Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis said pre-game, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley. "It just depends on how confident he is in his game and (on) the Knicks system. But he has the tools to be successful."
Hardaway Jr. Looks Like Knicks' Most Likely Alpha in Porzingis' Absence
With Porzingis out and the 19-year-old Knox still a big work in progress, the Knicks need an interim Alpha to guide the offense for the first few months of the season.
At this point, it's apparent Tim Hardaway Jr. is going to assume that role—for better or for worse.
The sixth-year swingman finished with 21 points on 6-of-18 shooting (3-of-8 from three) against the Pelicans, and those numbers were about what fans have come to expect from the volume scorer over the past year.
Case in point: Hardaway Jr. averaged a career-high 17.5 points per game last season, but he did so on a meager 42.1 percent shooting from the floor and career-low 31.7 percent from three.
And with even more freedom to fire away in a depleted offense, it stands to reason Hardaway Jr. could top the 15.0 field-goal attempts he launched on average each night during the 2017-18 campaign.
The results aren't always going to be pretty, but you can bank on Hardaway Jr. being New York's most aggressive wing on a night-to-night basis for the foreseeable future.
What's Next?
The Knicks will close out their exhibition slate with games against the Washington Wizards on Monday and Brooklyn Nets on Friday before they open their regular season Oct. 17 against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Pelicans have showdowns remaining against the Miami Heat on Oct. 10 and Toronto Raptors on Oct. 11.
